Starvation root cause of health issues in Mokhada: Doctors

Doctors who examined nearly 300 children in Mokhada taluka in Palghar district today, said the kids and their mothers were basically victims of starvation that has led to severe health issues among them.
"These are cases of starvation. Not only the children, whom we examined, but their mothers have also been found to be starving due to lack of sufficient food," senior pediatrician Dr Hemant Joshi said after the checkup.
"These are basically cases of starvation. They cannot be treated by medicine alone but need proper food for which they need to have proper source of income," he said.
The nature of their problem was social and it needed to be solved on priority basis, Dr Joshi said, adding that there should be a political will to tackle the issue.

Of the total 295 children who were examined today, 57 were diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition (SAM), of which four required immediate hospitalisation and specialised treatment.
These children hailed from over 43 villages in Mokhada taluka in the neighbouring Palghar district.

The camp had been organised by Vithu Mauli Charitable Trust and Sharamajivi Sanghatana.
Maharashtra Minister for Women and Child Welfare Pankaja Munde had recently visited the tribal-dominated Mokhada, where several malnutrition deaths are said to have taken place. Munde met the family members of two children who died recently due to malnutrition at Koch and Kalambawadi villages.
A few days ago, Tribal Development minister and district Guardian minister Vishnu Sawra had faced people's wrath when he visited the area, and had to leave.

District collector Abhijit Bangar had earlier said that as many as 212 children had died in the district since April this year due to malnutrition.